The wonders of oz

Recent Australian films haven't riveted audiences, but this line-up may change that.

What, exactly, is an Australian film?

If there were a simple "Made in Australia" definition, then we'd be claiming Scooby Doo and The Matrix as our own.

Local stars? In the recent big-budget monster movie Van Helsing, three of the four leads - Hugh Jackman, Richard Roxburgh and David Wenham - are from Oz, but it's still a Hollywood-in-Transylvania production. Does a film with an Australian director and star, an Australian cinematographer and local composers fit the bill? Only if you're going to argue that Master and Commander is an Australian movie.

The inescapable fact is that while we are busily exporting actors and filmmakers, there's not a corresponding interest in home-grown product. In a climate in which every local release is treated as a litmus test for the entire industry, recent box office for many Australian films has been disappointing - even those with plenty of media coverage and positive reviews.

So what Australian content does the winter movie slate bring? Geoffrey Rush has the title role in the much-anticipated The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and Nicole Kidman stars in the remake of The Stepford Wives, while director Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City) has a big-budget adaptation of Isaac Asimov's I, Robot with Will Smith.

There's also a small contingent of what will continue to be called "Australian films", even though the term can cover everything from action to arthouse to the dreaded "quirky comedy".

Cate Shortland's debut feature, Somersault, has already received an important boost: selection for the Un Certain Regard section at this year's Cannes Film Festival. It's the story of Heidi (Abbie Cornish), a 16-year-old girl testing the boundaries of sex, love and friendship.

The film was shot in Jindabyne, a location whose stark landscape and wintry setting play an important role in creating tone and mood. Somersault will be released in Australia in September.

There's also The Human Touch, a new film from arthouse veteran Paul Cox. Jacqueline McKenzie plays a singer who is sought out by a wealthy older man (Chris Haywood), whose attentions reveal new erotic and aesthetic possibilities to her. But they also put her relationship with her boyfriend to the test - a situation further challenged when the pair travel to France.

Night shoots were the order of the day for Tom White, written by Daniel Keene and directed by Alkinos Tsilimidos: most of its action takes place after dark. There's a challenging role for Colin Friels as the lead character.

Friels, who appears in all but three scenes, plays a middle-aged man with a job, a wife and two young children who, after a dramatic meltdown, leaves home and family to live on the street. A rent boy, an ex-junkie and an elder statesman of the streets are among his companions in this dark and often dangerous world.

There's a lighter take on midlife crisis in A Man's Gotta Do, written and directed by Chris Kennedy, who made Doing Time for Patsy Kline. John Howard plays Eddy, a respectable business man with a secret. For 25 years he has also been moonlighting as a standover man to keep his wife and daughter in material comfort. His beloved daughter is about to get married, and anxious to understand her better, he reads her diary. The results are chaotic rather than clarifying: secrets are revealed, new relationships formed and nothing about Eddy's life will ever be the same.

The comic theme continues with The Crop, set for an August release. It's the tale of nightclub owner Ronald "Blade" Gillette, whose business is suffering. Desperate for money to pay off debts and crooked cops, he decides to diversify into a dodgy "growth industry".

George Elliot, who wrote the film, also stars as the would-be entrepreneur.

Under the Radar is a road-trip comedy set in Queensland, directed by Evan Clarry. It's the tale of a surf fanatic desperate to get to a competition on time. With two inmates from a facility for the intellectually disabled in tow, he hits the road. The journey is complicated by a mysterious girl and a posse of gangsters, not to mention the hidden agenda of his travelling companions.

First-time director Rachael Lucas won't be showing her unconventional odyssey Bondi Tsunami in the multiplexes. Her movie, in which a pair of Japanese surf dudes search for big waves and big things along the east coast, might have an idiosyncratic video-clip aesthetic, but it will follow the old-fashioned surf-movie circuit, with a September premiere in Cobar, followed by screenings around the country.